evildmguy
Explorer
The problem is that what seems good -- correcting DMing mistakes where the game is "too hard" -- can easily become the bad -- OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration)-compliant dungeons, where every danger is bubble-wrapped to prevent the PC's from losing, and thus the adventure and chance for victory are removed from the game.
So I'd rather "let the dice fall where they may" and allow for PC's to get killed, even "if it's not there fault". To me, that creates a sense of danger and excitement.
I don't think anyone is arguing that we, as DMs, should go easy on the players. Far from it. What I am saying, at least, is that I set up what is supposed to be a reasonable fight for the characters and then I play them as intelligent as I think they are and try to "win" that fight. Monsters don't bow down and let themselves be killed for money and xp. But, for the most part, the character do only meet fights they can handle.
At the same time, if something is too easy, I don't try to make it more difficult during the fight. I let it play out and if it's obvious they are winning easily, that's when the enemies surrender. On the other side, if the monsters are winning easily, they push the advantage as much as they can but running is always an option. Again, though, rather than go for a kill, unless it fits, they are willing to capture the PCs for a reward later.
I think, in the theme of this thread, that this is when you try to plan for that but it doesn't work. Again, in the past several fights I have ran, I tried to kill the PCs. I flanked. I used big abilities. I didn't hold back and ran out of encounter powers on the monsters. Having said that, there was still enough random chance as well as good abilities and using them on the player's side, that they win, honestly.
What I am also personally saying, based on my experience, is that as sandbox game doesn't work. My players want a linear game. That still means appropriate fights with the chance of death. But, nothing that they can't handle. If they do come across something they can't handle, and I'm not making it obvious or they aren't getting the hints I think I am dropping, I explicitly tell the players that their characters need to run. I'm the players gateway to the world and that's my job, to spell it out for them if I think it appropriate. I try to avoid those situations, though, and instead make it a fun role playing opportunity.
For example, in my Dark Sun game, they have talked to both the Sorcerer King of the town and the Dragon. As players, they knew they couldn't fight them. However, at no point did the SK or Dragon consider fighting them. The PCs, at this point, are beneath their notice in terms of thinking of them as a threat. Instead, they talk and offer a devil's bargain. The player's accepted it, in this case, thinking they don't have a choice, but they do. The SK or Dragon don't care what their answer is but if they gain another tool in their goals, that's fine with them.
That's how I run it, anyway.
edg